The Niagara-area MPP says the province must discontinue its practice of offering "outrageous" subsidies to "massive" corporations for green-energy projects, which are driving up hydro costs.

He vowed to reduce the "energy bureaucracy" in Ontario and called for a forensic audit of the debt retirement charge on hydro bills.

"Hydro has become simply unaffordable for families and for small businesses," Hudak said in an interview at The Sun Times.

"Energy prices are one of the chief drivers in any kind of business and sadly it's going to mean the difference for some businesses between keeping the doors open or shutting off the lights and laying off employees and shutting the doors for good if we stay on the path that we're on."

Hudak stopped by the newspaper office with Bruce-Grey- Owen Sound Progressive Conservative candidate Bill Walker during a tour of the area, which began with a visit to the Wiarton Willie prediction ceremony in South Bruce Peninsula. Hudak was scheduled to hold a press conference at the Owen Sound Marina, but the event was cancelled due to a snow storm.

Hudak said "all across Ontario" people are complaining and worrying about "skyrocketing" hydro bills, which the Liberal government says will jump by about 46% -- largely due to green energy policies -- over the next five years.

Hudak said if elected premier, he would end the practice of signing contracts with companies for "massive" subsidies to provide green energy in the province. He cited as an example the province's $7-billion contract with Samsung Corp., which is reported to include $437 million in subsidies on top of Ontario's regular feed-in-tariffs.

"Why should a senior citizen who is struggling to make ends meet pay a massive subsidy to one of the biggest corporations in the world? We need to end those types of subsidies that are driving up the cost of our bill," he said.

Hudak also vowed to "pare down" the number of public bureaucrats in the energy sector, such as the Ontario Power Authority "which began as a transitional agency with 15 employees" and has ballooned to 300 people, many of whom are earning more than $100,000 per year.

Hudak is calling on the Liberals to hire an external auditor to examine the debt retirement charge, which adds about $84 a year to each hydro bill, to determine how the money is being spent. Hydro customers have paid $7.8 billion toward the $7.8-billion hydro debt, he said, so it should be paid off by 2012, taking interest costs into account. The McGuinty Liberals say the debt will not be repaid until 2018, however.

"We're very concerned that they're going to turn what was a temporary debt repayment charge into a permanent tax grab on our hydro bills. Clearly, if that debt has been paid off, it should come off our bills."